San Francisco threatens suit over PG&E pipelines

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Thursday threatened to sue California and federal regulators for failing to insure that PG&E's pipelines are safe, given recent revelations about the utility's gas line operations after the Sept. 9 San Bruno catastrophe.

In a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission and the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Herrera said he intended to seek a federal court order requiring those agencies to abide by the law and to insure public safety.

Because they haven't sufficiently held PG&E accountable under the federal Pipeline Safety Act, Herrera said, "the city and its occupants are at risk of experiencing a pipeline failure as devastating as the San Bruno explosion," which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.

However, Herrera's letter noted that anyone seeking to sue under the law must give potential defendants a 60-day advance notice and added that he "is open to discussing alternatives to litigation" during that period.

Terrie Prosper, spokeswoman for the PUC, and Patricia Klinger of the federal pipeline agency, declined comment.

Herrera's letter acknowledged that state regulators have increased their efforts to monitor PG&E since the San Bruno accident. But it accused both agencies of "a poor track record in actual enforcement, instead adopting a minimalist, 'check the boxes' approach to their regulatory obligation." A recent report by a panel of experts came to a similar conclusion about the PUC.

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Herrera said he was particularly concerned because three of PG&E's major gas transmission lines -- including the one that erupted in San Bruno -- run through San Francisco and contain old pipe.

"While PG&E has done repair work along some segments of these lines, its records regarding pipeline condition and features are so incomplete, inaccurate and/or unavailable that they provide no assurance that the lines are safe," his letter said. "The city's concerns about the condition of gas transmission pipelines in San Francisco are heightened by the initial report of the National Transportation Safety Board, which indicated that the San Bruno explosion originated at a poorly installed weld along the lengthwise seam of the transmission line."

Herrera also faulted regulators for not inspecting PG&E rigorously enough, failing to make the utility promptly correct pipeline violations and allowing the company to risk "destabilizing" some pipe segments by occasionally boosting the gas pressure in those lines.

In a separate filing with the PUC, the city of San Bruno on Thursday disputed the conclusion in the expert panel's report that a 2008, city-approved sewer-replacement project likely contributed to the rupture of the natural gas pipe nearby.

Although the panel's conclusion is shared by a pipeline industry group's own study, San Bruno officials contend the panel gave insufficient credence to other factors. Those include the electrical failure at a PG&E gas-line terminal in Milpitas moments before the explosion and periodic pressure-level changes over the years in the pipe that ruptured.